John Wells and NBC Swap Doctors for Cops

ER has been in NBC's Thursdays-at-10 time slot for so long (going on 15 years now!) that it's hard to imagine what could replace it when the show goes off the air next Spring. But now there's news of one possibility — and it comes from a familiar source: ER's own executive producer, John Wells.

Wells will be producing a pilot for NBC called LAPD, which is already being considered as a potential replacement for ER on Thursday nights. Ann Biderman, who won an Emmy for writing on NYPD Blue back in 1994, is writing the script for the pilot.

The description of the project is pretty vague at this point — just that it "chronicles the lives of a group of police officers in Los Angeles." OK, not a lot of information. But hey, ER was basically a show chronicling the lives of a group of hospital workers in Chicago, and that worked out just fine.

Wells has also produced shows about politicians (The West Wing) and firefighters (Third Watch), but his one foray into the world of crime — the short-lived Smith, about a crew of professional thieves — only made it through three episodes back in 2006. Maybe Wells will have better luck on the other side of the law. Would you check out his take on police work?